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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Robin Redbreast

Photo by Ken Martin

Each spring and summer I watch
Surabi, my cat, sit at the edge of the kitchen table and watch the birds in the
yard.As she watches the birds she will
give a small meow, wiggle her backside and twitch her tail back and forth.Occasionally she will allow me to sit next to
her and pet her as she enjoys her favorite pastime, watching and drooling over
the birds (that she can’t have).

Each time I
sit with her watching those birds I notice something.I see cardinals, blue jays and many other
types of birds, but one type of bird is more abundant than the others; the
American Robin.In fact, the American robin
(Turdus migratorius) is one of the most common North American birds.It is also our state bird.

I had only
known the robin to be our state bird and a rather common one until I looked up
the American robin in The Audubon Society
Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John K. Terres.Did
you know that the robin was once a forest bird?I didn’t.Robins can still be
found in forests but many have adapted to our suburban landscapes.

Our robin redbreast is in the
thrush (Turdidae) family.There are 306
species of birds in the thrush family, including for example, the hermit thrush
and bluebird.The birds in the thrush
family include some of our best known song birds.The American robin is 9-11 inches long and
has a wingspan of 14 ¾-16 ½ inches, making it the largest North American
thrush.Although large the robin only
weighs between 64.8-84.2 grams.

Robins eat earthworms, insects,
fruit and bread, build their nests anywhere between the ground and the tops of
trees and have been clocked flying up to 25 mph.Here are some fun facts: in Redmond, Oregon
an American robin in captivity is alive and flying at 17 years old.In Amsterdam, New York an albino robin was
rescued from the claws of a cat and lived for 5 years in captivity.